Dying to Live
by Syclone903
Summary: Years after their tumultuous and often melodramatic high school careers, two former Sobu High students find themselves thrust into a situation that change their lives irreversibly. Now in unfamiliar territory, our unlikely duo must learn to navigate, manipulate and subjugate in order to survive their harsh new environment. And maybe pick up a little optimism along the way.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Well, don't just stand there…!"

"Give me a second, I'm just going over my approach…"

"Your appro- what are you even _talking_ about? It's not rocket science for goodness sake. Get on with it!"

"Would you calm down woman? Look, it's not-"

"I'm calm."

"Fine. Good. As I was saying, you have to understand, this sort of… activity isn't exactly my forte. It's only natural that I'd be hesitant."

"Activity? Your forte? It's just talking to a girl, everyone does this every day! Even you! Hey, guess what? You're doing it right now!"

"Fair point, however, this is in my native language, of which I am very confident. English, not so much. Second, I know you, that girl is a stranger. Very different. Third, and most importantly, I'm not trying to seduce _you_ into giving me clandestine access to a private libra-"

"Hehehe~"

"Something funny? We can leave right now and have tell each other jokes all day back at the inn if you really want a laugh."

"No no no- I wasn't lau-he- * _ahem_ * I wasn't laughing. Sorry, jeez."

"Right. Anyways, the point is, I'm no fool; I recognize the fact that, relatively speaking, I'm not particularly handsome if you-"

"Nothing _particular_ about it. You're not handsome, period."

"..."

"Sorry! Sorry, it just came out! Don't leave! Come back! I didn't mean it!"

"So you think I'm handsome?"

"Hah? Is that really the kind of man you are Hikio? Holding magic tomes over a woman's head for compliments?!"

"Yes."

"Ha… fine. Just a second."

"...What are you doing?"

"What? I can't in good conscience compliment a person's looks with so much evidence to the contrary in plain view."

"Oi..."

"So let's see. Cover one eye… tilt my head about… 30, 40 degrees? Turn a bit to the left… look down ju~st a little…! Cover the other eye a~nd… there! Now you're just as handsome as any movie star!"

"...Well, it's more than I would have gotten from Yukinoshita at least."

"You see? Roll with the punches! Girls love those witty responses you always give!"

"No, they don't. That's just what girls say to the guys they've put in the friendzone. Source- "

"You?"

"No. By definition, being in the friendzone necessitates being friends in the first place."

"...Wow. Now even _I'm_ losing hope in this whole thing."

"Having hope to begin with was your first mistake."

"Just get in the bar and… I don't know, try to get by with pity or something."

"Pity? Acute discomfort and emotional manipulation sure, but I don't _do_ pity."

"You do. Trust me."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, alright?! Now can you stop stalling already and get enter the damn bar? She's gonna leave at this rate!"

"And what a pity that would be. You might not learn how to burn _both_ my eyebrows off as opposed to just the one."

"Would you let that go already? It grew back months ago!"

"But my wounded pride has still yet to heal."

"Stop stalling!"

"I'm not stalling, you're stalling."

"Hikio please… I really want that book…"

"Hah? A new tactic? We're not teenagers anymore Miura. You can't just look at me with that expression and- hey! Too close!"

"Please Hikio-kun?"

"I won't- I won't be manipulated like this! You're even still calling me Hikio! And for God's sake woman, you're too close!"

"Please Ha-"

"Don't."

"Chi-"

"I mean it!"

"Man~"

"...!"

"Ah! What's this?! You're already ha- "

"Fine! I'm going! I'm going! Jeez…"

"Thanks! Hehee...!"

"Ugh…"

"Stop being so tense! Just talk to her like you do to me and you'll be fine!"

"Yeah yeah… wait, doesn't that-?"

"Break a leg."

"Okay! Oi, I can move by myself!"

As Hikio pushed open the door to the semi high-end drinking establishment, I leaned back on the alley wall and let out a deep breath. Damn was he exhausting to deal with. I fidgeted slightly with my cloak and blinked at the direction of the doorway, mindful to keep myself out of sight of patrons within. I sighed again.

Had it really been less than a year since we left - or rather, arrived? So many things had happened in such a relatively small span of time that I still found it strange to imagine that things like indoor plumbing or smartphones were such mainstays of my life for so long. Things that I'd never thought I'd be able to live without. Things I thought would never change.

I extended a hand palm up in front of me and watched as solitary embers crackled to life, coalescing into a small flame the size of a tennis ball. I stared at the fire as it bent and danced in futile defiance to the feeble yet omnipresent winds that acted upon it. Sooner or later, even a raging inferno will be snuffed out by the tides of change. You can struggle, you can ignore, you can even-

"Geh!" I faulted, "Was I just monologuing?!"

I hastily extinguished the blaze in my hand, glancing about for prying eyes. I sighed a third time.

Wait… a third time?

"Argh, I really _am_ turning into him!" I lamented, shifting my leg in an effort to correct my standing posture, only to feel something soft give way beneath the heel of my boot. It moved in protest.

I paled, refusing to look down, lest I see the one thing I dreaded most in this world and the previous. A split-second later, I heard a telltale squeak and my fears were confirmed. Only, to my horror, the cry was answered by a chorus of high pitched responses, originating from beneath the wall I was leaning against.

Rats. Dozens if not hundreds of them. Moments away from either fleeing or giving chase.

I didn't even have time to whimper.

I'm no angel. I've done lots of things I would never admit to - things I'm not proud of.

...

Still though!

Did the afterlife have to be this bad?!

* * *

Hello readers. I'll be brief. This is my first published story, and my second fanfiction I've written in general. This isn't much of a chapter, but it is a taste of things to come. I'll be the first to admit I'm not the best writer out there, but I'm planning to use this story to learn and improve. I'm not going to ask for a review - though feel free to anyways - because again, there isn't much _to_ review. That said, the next chapter will be coming soon. Have a good one.

Cheers,  
Syclone903


	2. The Binding of Yumiko

**Chapter 1 - The Binding of Yumiko**

It took me more than a few seconds to register that I was awake.

"Wha…?" I slurred blearily. My head felt like the illicit lovechild of a cement mixer and a trash compactor, especially the back. What did I drink last night? Where the hell was I, and what was that _smell_?

I let out a long groan and opened my eyes to see… nothing. Wait, my eyes have been open this whole time?

Okay, the lights are off. No big deal. I shook my head a bit to clear out the cobwebs. Alright, focus. Where am I?

I'm sitting on - actually _in_ \- something. A sofa. No, an armchair. Leather. I didn't own an armchair, so this wasn't my apartment. Neither did Hikari. Or Yui. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't know anyone that had one. Weird. Whatever.

I reached around for my handbag, or at least tried to. I couldn't move my arm.

I felt my eyes widen and my heart rate elevate. I couldn't move the rest of my body either. Sleep paralysis? No, I can move my head just fine. Then I felt them; rough velcro, loose but somehow still constricting, across my arms, legs, waist and chest. I was strapped into the chair.

Confusion slowly gave way to dread as I felt my heart sink. Why was I being restrained? I began to struggle.

"No no no, this isn't happening. This can't be happening." I vocalised as the fear really began to take hold. I could feel that the restraints were far beyond my ability to break, but my frantic attempts to do so where nigh involuntary at this point. Every horror story I'd ever heard, every scary movie I'd ever watched, crashed their way to the forefront of my mind. I was going to be tortured and killed. I'd been kidnapped by human traffickers. I was a human test subject.

Panic had started to set in.

"Hello?!" I cried out, turning my head left and right, "Is there anyone there?! I'm stuck and I can't get loose!" I glanced about in a vain attempt to peer through the blackness. It wrapped around me like a sheet. I couldn't even see my own body. "Please! I- "

"Aaaaany second now" interrupted a voice, seemingly from directly in front of me, less than 10 feet away.

My breath caught in my throat. Someone had been there, the whole time. Watching as I panicked. The person sounded male. Who was he? Was that excitement in his voice?

I redoubled my efforts to free myself. It was most likely the person that strapped me in. A serial killer. It was a serial killer.

Tears began to flow freely now, "P-please. Please don't- d-don't kill me." I sobbed, my voice little more than an incoherent babble, "Oh God I-I don't. Oh God!"

Why me? Why did this have to happen to me? Images to flash unsolicited through my mind; my parents, my apartment, Hikari and Yui. Nobuo. Places I'd rather be. People I'd rather be with. Anywhere but here.

"Waaait for it" the voice continued, apparently indifferent to my distress, "Aaaaand… now!"

A loud thud echoed through the darkness from my right, eliciting a cry of surprise from me. I instinctively turned my head towards the sound, and was greeted by loud, desperate coughs amidst sounds of rustling. Several seconds passed, and the rustling gradually subsided, followed quickly by the coughs. Moments later, the room was silent, save my sobs and shuddering breaths. Who was this new person? Another captive most likely - the rustling was must have been them struggling against their bonds. Fear and indecision paralyzed me. Should I say something? What if I become the first victim?

After what seemed like an eternity, my fellow captive spoke.

"Pitch black huh" they said - a man - in a deep drawl, far too calm given our predicament, "Ugh… I hoped I wouldn't end up here…"

What? Did he know where we were? Did he know who the killer was? Why I was targeted? A million questions raced through my mind, and it was only when the man spoke again that I realised I hadn't actually said anything.

"Uh, is it always like this here?" he asked, coughing lightly once more, "Can you hear me?"

Was he talking to me?

"I- " I began, still not quite in control of myself, "Th-there's- he's- Oh God."

"Hey, are you alright?" he inquired.

To my horror, our captor spoke again, "Oh she's fine. You both are. Relatively. Here, let me get the lights."

A second later, a snap could be heard in the killer's direction. White light penetrated my vision unimpeded as I squinted in discomfort. After taking a moment to blink the spots away, my eyes adjusted I beheld our detainer.

He was tall and seemingly in his late twenties. A dark haired man in a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and purple - violet rather - slacks. He was leaning back into his leather executive chair, legs crossed and fingers in a steeple in front of his face. Gold-rimmed wire frame glasses sat perched in front of eyes that seemed an impossibly bright yellow. He was smirking.

"Hello" he greeted, with all the grandiosity of a primetime game show host, "and welcome - my good man, my fair lady - to Terminus." He finished with slight incline of the head.

I looked to my right in an attempt to identify the other man, only to be met with darkness. Confused, I turned back to the smiling killer. It was a floodlight. I couldn't see anything outside of a 5 foot radius of him.

"Terminus. Fitting, I guess." came the response from my right.

The killer looked in his direction, "Isn't it though? It's not very clever or _deep_ or anything but, well, it rolls off the tongue."

By now, enough time had passed that I had grown a little bit of my spine back.

"Where are we, and who the hell are you?" I spat, voice higher than I would have liked.

His gaze shifted to me and though I was still in complete darkness, he seemed to make eye contact, "Firstly, erm, Terminus" he answered, an eyebrow raised, "Could have sworn I just said that." He rocked his chair few couple of times, "As for who I am, it's certainly not "the killer", thank you very much. _I_ certainly didn't kill you."

I almost recoiled, before calming down. He didn't read my mind; it's only natural that someone in my position would think that. The not-killer took off his glasses.

"You, mademoiselle, may refer to me as…" he trailed off.

The man slowly reached into his shirt pocket, extracting a microfiber cloth which he began to clean his glasses with. Seconds passed as he carefully attended to his task.

Who was he? The revealing of his identity would most likely in turn reveal his purpose with us. Yakuza? A hired killer? Anxiety welled up in my stomach but I managed to shove it down. This was the moment of truth.

Finally, he donned his eyewear once more and reestablished eye contact. I could feel my heart nearly thundering out of my chest. His gaze seemed to burrow deep into my very soul, though I kept mine in place despite it. A few moments passed. He hadn't said anything yet.

I heard a faint dripping sound from the other guy's direction. More time passed as my trepidation slowly gave way to confusion.

"Well?" I blurted out.

The man blinked, "I'm thinking."

What?

"Hah?" I let out, "What the hell does that mean? What's your name?!"

"I said I'm thinking" he replied, "About what I should call myself, that is. I would have thought that was implied." To my shock, he rolled his eyes and looked in the direction of the room's other occupant, "Women, am I right?"

 _What?_

Bewilderment and outrage warred for prominence within me at the man's frivolous demeanor, rendering me temporarily speechless. The other guy hadn't answered, so I assumed he felt similarly. Was this some sort of joke to him or something?

Hang on…

"Is this a fucking prank?!" I yelled, anger winning out eventually. The gears were already turning in my head; this was an act. This joker here was hired to pull of some elaborate performance - to scare or piss me off. That had to be it. The latter seemed to be more likely though - looking at him again, this guy was about as threatening as an upside-down turtle.

"Who put you up to this?" I continued, once more trying to free myself, "It was Haruki right?! This settles it; that old bat is a _lunatic_. I'm going to kill-"

"No!" he laughed, cutting me off. "It's not- haha…" He was having trouble controlling his mirth. "It's not a prank." He finished off his chuckles and shot me an apologetic look. Readjusting his spectacles, he continued on:

"No, unfortunately for you, this is real. Like, really real." His eyes widened with glee and he wriggled his fingers, "Technically, more real than anything you've ever experienced." He gave a smirk and waved his hand dismissively, "You'll get it in a second."

Ah. I see now. Haruki-oba-san wasn't crazy…

"Anyway" he continued, "I've had my fun. I'll explain everything now." He quickly leapt off his chair, the force sending it rolling backwards into the the darkness.

"I am Kielzad." he announced with an elaborate bow, "And you…"

...the crazy one…

He looked up and pointed in our general direction, "...are both dead."

...was this guy.

A pregnant silence settled into the room. The schizophrenic once more adjusted his glasses and levelled us with an expectant looks.

"That's it?" he complained, standing up straight, "Damn, tough crowd." More silence, "Well don't just sit there, ask questions! Don't you want to know more?"

"Erm" I began, shifting uncomfortably, "Do you own a magic ring-ring glass?" I tried to pantomime a phone call but, again, strapped to a chair, "If you bring me one, I'll grant you 3 wishes. Pinky swear."

The man stared at me, unimpressed, "Okay first of all; rude. I'm not crazy. Second, I know what a phone is. Third, it's a _little bit_ late for that. I mean, you are literally in the judgement seat." He turned to the room's third occupant, "Help me out here? Tell her I'm not crazy."

A moment passed. I turned to look into the darkness as the hidden man started to speak, "I'm not certain as to the state of your sanity - you aren't really making a good case for yourself though... " he cleared his throat, "Though I can say that yes, personally speaking, I am more than likely, pretty much almost certainly, dead. The chances of my surviving… what just happened, are astronomically low." He paused for a second, then continued, "having said that, I suppose if I somehow did survive, this could be some sort of coma-induced lucid dream, which would mean that neither of you actually exist. Do with that what you will."

The calm, composed speech in contrast to Kielzad's (stupid, obviously fake name by the way) flippant parlance lent credibility to his words (besides that last part, obviously), and fear touched my heart despite myself once again, "That doesn't prove anything" I retorted hastily. I began to wrack my brain for what I was doing before I woke up here, "How do I know you're not just his accomplice or… or, some sort of…"

"Why is this even a thing?" Kielzad butted in impatiently, "It actually should have been pretty obvious from the beginning. What was the last thing you remember?"

I thought back to last night. I was at home. TV in the living room was on and I was partaking in a bit of drink. I heard the front door open and Hikari announcing her entrance - we were going to have a talk about recent… events. The room was pretty stuffy so I went to open the screen door on the balcony. My apartment was on the 24th floor. I had been drinking. I heard a click. My memory ended here.

Realization - along with nausea - crashed through me like a wrecking ball. My eyes unfocused as my mind ran a mile a minute. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be.

"Bingo" the bespectacled man said, nodding his head, "Again, it sucks but, well, it is what it is. I'll tell you what though, I saw..."

Kielzad's voice droned on the background; I wasn't listening. I was dead? Already? Everything I had ever done. My life, my career, my relationships. Every hardship I had ever gone through - was it really all for nothing? How could I be dead?

"So. what happens now?" the other captive - well, I guess soul or ghost would be more appropriate - asked. The question jumped out at me and I refocused back on Kielzad.

"What happens indeed", he answered, running his hand through his hair. Somehow, his chair rolled itself out back out of the dark and he plopped back on it, "Well, I'm going to give you both a choice-"

"Speaking of which" the other man interrupted, ""both?" Care to introduce us?"

Kielzad looked in his direction, then smacked his own forehead, "Oh right! Can't believe I forgot that!" He laughed a little too loudly and then continued, "It's actually a funny story, I don't usually do this, but it was just such a crazy coincidence that I thought, "why not"?"

He crossed his legs again and clapped, "You both died at literally the same time."

"Lots of people die every day" the other guy replied, "is it really that special?"

Kielzad gestured waved his right hand, "No, but the thing is, you're actually pretty well acquainted already, and your death's had nothing to do with each other's" He shrugged, "I dunno; I thought it was weird and just decided to bring you both up at the same time." He wiggled in his seat, "Shake things up, you know?"

"I know you?" I asked into the blackness. A small part of my mind was amazed that I was able to even engage, given that I had just found out that my life had ended. Guess the enormity of the situation hadn't really sunk in yet.

"Supposedly" the lazy sounding voice replied in a way that, now that I think about it, was kind of familiar. In a gross sort of way. The guy continued, "Though you're right Kielzad, that is unique, seeing as I could count the kind of people I've been acquainted with in the last couple of years on one hand. You sound a little too feminine to be my old 50-something, chainsmoking boss. So I'm guessing high school?"

The low, offputting voice. The apparent lack of any sort of a social life. High school? Wait… didn't that sound just like…

"Hikio?" I attempted, "That you?"

"Tch!" he retorted, irate, "It's Hikigaya. Even in death, I swear…"

A significant wave of relief washed over me at finding something - some _one_ \- familiar, but was swiftly undercut by the realisation that it didn't make a lick of difference. I was still dead.

"Having said that, I'm afraid I can't reciprocate" he continued, "You may know who I am, but I don't know who you are.", he paused as if considering something, "Though for some unknown reason, I can't seem to shake the image of hair bleach and Hayama photographs."

"Hah?!" I shouted reflexively at the obvious jab. That was such a long time ago! "What did you just say?!"

"Eurgh" he gurgled. I could almost see him shrink back - he always did come across as a pushover. I heard him cough twice, "It was a joke Miura." Another pause, "Good to see you, I guess."

I shook my head in disbelief, "It's good to _see me_? Here?!"

"Fair point" came the begrudging reply, followed by a long, _annoying_ sigh "For what it's worth… sorry. That you died, I mean."

He's _sorry?_ What the hell was _wrong_ with this guy? Before I could give him a piece of my mind, the sound of Kielzad's fingers snapping redirected our attention to him. He cleared his throat, . I wasn't having it.

"Hey!" I yelled, "Can you turn on the damn lights please? The jig is already up."

The bespectacled man stared almost impassively, the silence once more too long to be conversational, before looking up at the floodlight and replying, "They're already on."

Deep breaths. Count backwards from 10. Deep breaths. Gnashing is bad for your teeth.

Kielzad recoiled with his hands up in surrender, "Fine! Just having a little fun." He coughed into his hands twice, before clapping them loudly. This time, I preemptively shut my eyes so as not to be blinded. A second passed, and I slowly began to squint about my surroundings, though it apparently wasn't necessary; the light was not very bright.

The first thing I noticed was that there was no floor. Or, at least, the floor was transparent; where it should have been, I could see a giant image of… something vaguely resembling an image of a galaxy, but very different. Taking a closer look, it was more of a... video, or window as I noticed movement.

I also noticed that there were no walls or ceiling either - it all seemed to stretch into ethereal multicolored, aurora borealis-esque nothingness. Either this was the world's most sophisticated planetarium or…

"I really am dead" I whispered. While the initial shock had worn off, if only marginally, seeing such clear confirmation was still quite jarring.

"Looks like it", came the reply from Hikio, who I now turned to look at.

He looked… different from what I remembered, though I can't say my I ever spent a lot of time looking at him. His hair was longer - though less of a different hairstyle, more of a I-couldn't-be-bothered-to-cut-it situation. His face had narrowed a bit more and he was a tad taller I think. Other than that, he seemed pretty much the same. For some reason, he was completely drenched in sweat. The transparent liquid soaked through his navy blue t-shirt and black gym shorts in a way that made him look like he had just ran a 5 mile marathon. In the desert. Gross. He scratched his head a few times before-

Wait.

"Why am I the only one strapped to my chair?!" I yelled, turning back to Kielzad.

He scratched his chin, "I don't know, will you leave your seat if I let you?"

The hell? I bucked in the chair, "I- what kind of question- maybe? I don't know, let me go!"

"Well, if you would calm down I could be persuaded to-"

"Fuck you!" I screamed back, renewing my struggles, "I'm dead aren't I? Why should I give a damn what you want?! Let me out of here!"

Kielzad leaned back in his chair, his glasses reflecting the light so his eyes weren't visible, "Why should you huh." He said in a… weird tone, "Well, how about this? What do you think happens after you die? Or, rather, who do you think _decides_ what happens after you die?"

That stopped me in my tracks and my mind did a 180. Was I just screaming at-

"So, you're God then?" Hikio asked. I looked at him - his face was still that impassive almost-glare he'd always had.

Kielzad stretched and popped his neck, "Not quite. Here's the deal; I'm rather a… subordinate of His."

"So, an angel then." Hikio surmised.

"In a manner of speaking I suppose." Kielzad replied, before swivelling in his chair, facing away from us, "When a human dies, their spirit, their _consciousness_ leaves their bodies and goes before God to be judged, wherin they will either be granted eternal bliss in Heaven…"

"Or go to the other place" I finished with a grimace. I forced down the growing ball of dread in my gut.

"Right" Kielzad continued, "The other place. The very very very _bad_ place. That place."

"Huh" Hikio said, "So Christianity had it right?"

Kielzad gave a small flourish from behind his chair, "Again, not quite, or at least, not on the whole. Especially not in the last millenium. The broad strokes are pretty much correct though. Anyway, I digress; the point is, you die, you meet God, you get judged."

"Except you're not God" I interjected.

Kielzad turned back around and smiled at us, "Yup. I am not. See, sometimes, as the spirits travel from the… _mortal plane_ , I guess, over to be judged, I kind of take note of some of the humans I like or find interesting and, y'know" he made a grabbing motion with his hand, "borrow them for a bit."

"You _what?_ " I yelled reflexively. I bucked in my chair again and scowled at him. He plucked my soul like some sort of… what kind of person _does_ that?! Having said that though...

The man raised his hands up in placation, "Just for a bit, at least, if that's what they want."

"What we want?" Hikio asked, "What are our options then?"

"Glad you asked!" replied Kielzad, as he slowly moved his chair further away from me, "Because you see, I'm here to give you both an offer." he raised his right hand up, "On the one hand, you can leave, go back to God, and get judged. Your lives and actions will be examined, and based on a variety of metrics that you have very limited knowledge on, your eternal, everlasting and super permanent fate will be decided."

He then slowly, dramatically raised his left hand, "Or, you stay here and get judged by _me_ instead."

"And why the heck would we want to do that?" I spat, though I really hoped he had a better alternative. The more I thought about it, the more scared shitless I was of facing God's judgement. I wasn't exactly confident in the life I had lived.

"Because, milady" he answered, "I offer a more… dynamic result than that of our holy Master. Where He calculates your… Karma, for lack of a better term, and then metes out reward or punishment based on whether you have more or less than a static figure, I take your Karma and then put you in a world that scales to your actual number. So, you're not going to get something nearly as good as Heaven, but uh, yeah, you're not going to go the Hell either."

A wave of relief nearly drowned me as we took what he had said in. It was the better option, hands down.

"Why though?" Hikio asked.

What? What was he doing?! You don't look a gift horse in the mouth!

"A couple of reasons actually," Kielzad answered, "First, I just think it's, well, a bit more…"

' _Humane?_ ' I thought. I mean, it was kind of easy to dismiss in life, but sitting here, waiting to be judged, who the fuck deserves _eternal_ damnation? Like, seriously?

"Fair?" Hikio suggested.

Kielzad waved it off, "Nah, nothing's actually fair, not in the slightest. Palatable, I think, would be the word."

"Frankly, I'm surprised God let you do this. Doesn't it kind of undermine His, err, method?" I said.

Kielzad chuckled, "I'm not entirely sure He knows. I know _I_ didn't tell Him."

"Wait a second, hold on." I tilted my head, "I don't really like, know too much about Christianity or anything but isn't He supposed to be all powerful or something?"

"Maybe? I don't know."

I scowled again, "Hah?! What do you mean you don't know?!"

The angel shrugged, "To be honest, nobody really goes against what he says or even asks. The last guy who did was Lucifer and his posse and, well, you know what happened to them."

I glanced at Hikio.

"Lucifer's the devil." he explained. Oh.

"Right, the poor, oddly ambitious bastard. Anyway, He gives us - oh, 'us' being his err, _angels_ , as you would call them by the way - a good amount of freedom and doesn't really talk to us that often. Haven't really seen him in like, a millennium or so. We're all pretty satisfied mostly."

He clapped his hands, "Moving on, time for you to make your choice."

"I choose you" I answered immediately. He pantomimed throwing a ball in my direction and I stared at him quizzically. He stared back expectantly and I looked again to Hikio but found him shaking his head in... exasperation? The hell was this?

Kielzad cleared his throat, " _Really_ tough crowd. Anyway, how about you my good man?"

"Same." Hikio replied, sighing briefly "Not exactly a saint either."

"Great. Let's get this show on the road." The angel snapped his fingers and a… tablet materialized in his hands, "Linux" he nodded smugly before starting to read whatever was on it, "Alrighty then, let's take a look. We'll start with you Hachiman."

"Why him?" I asked a little indignantly. Now that I had a better option than the fires of Hell, the anxiety of waiting had started to set in. I like to get things over with as soon as I can if possible.

"Rela~x" he soothed, "it'll only be a minute. Rest assured, you'll get what's coming to you."

My heart skipped a beat. What? What did _that_ mean?

"Hikigaya Hachiman" he began, "Age 21. For all your apparent lack of sainthood, this is actually pretty good! Lots of instances of self-sacrifice, personal responsibility, relative fairness. _Surprising_ amount of forgiveness. Donated a kidney _and_ your lungs?" Kielzad whistled, "Hell, I'd probably have taken my chances with God if I were you."

"Wonderful" Hikio deadpanned.

"Alright, here's what your Karma can get you" he started to tap on the tablet, "I'm thinking… tropical paradise, magic abilities, fast rate of technological advancement, no diseases, and hey, let's throw in a harem of hot maids in there!"

Ugh. Pig.

Still though, that was actually pretty great. It wasn't even my turn yet and I was already getting a little excited.

Hikio, in his first actual display of emotion thus far, sat up straight in his seat and gawked, "...Seriously?"

"You've earned it buddy." Kielzad assured him, "You'll barely be able to feel pain, and if you somehow manage to get yourself killed, you'll just respawn somewhere safe. Bah, I don't need to explain much, you'll figure it out."

"Oh. Wow that's…" Hikio attempted, seemingly at a loss for words, "Thanks, I guess."

"No need to thank me. Again, it's all you. To be honest, it's not even that great; on a scale of 1-10, it's about a six, six point five. Now then." The angel turned to me and my heart rate began to skyrocket; this was it, "Onto you, Yumiko."

I quietly waited with baited breath for the response. Kielzad scrolled through the document on his tablet letting out nondescript 'hmm's' at intervals. My heart was thundered within my chest; I wish he would just get it over with.

He frowned and the feeling of dread came back full force. That wasn't a good sign.

"Not gonna lie, this is isn't great" the man intoned. My heart to fall like a stone.

No.

"Ruined your boss's marriage, slept with your best friends fiance-"

No, that wasn't-

"-irectly responsible for your coworker's _suicide_ , rampant acts of bullying all throughout your schoo-"

"N-no wait you- you don't understan-"

A gag materialized in front of me and buried itself into my mouth. "Zip it", Kielzad continued, something dark entering his voice, "Where was I? Right, tricked three women into getting fired from their jobs, one of whom's ailing mother _died_ due to that by the way-"

I didn't want to hear this. Why couldn't he understand? Those weren't my fault! I screamed into the gag.

"Alright, you know what?", the angel snapped, "I'll just summarise: you've done more harm than good, to put it lightly. Most people don't like you, and unfortunately for you, I'm one of them. So, without further ado, here's where you'll be spending the rest of eternity."

Nononononononononono this was NOT happening. I felt my body break into a cold sweat as I thrashed against my restraints. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't fair! I yelled into the gag again.

"Hmm, desert planet. Barely any water, cannibals and marauders, lots and lots of rape and murder. Think Mad Max but with no cars. Doubled pain threshold. No natural resources so no real civilisation any time soon. Terminal diseases literally _everywhere_." The man casually adjusted his spectacles, "All in all, preeeeetty shitty. Oh! You can't go insane either, almost forgot about that."

My eyes widened in despair. I tried to wriggle my hands to take of my gag; if I could just explain-

"That is _really_ annoying" Kielzad stretched a hand out in front of him, and the air shimmered as some sort of translucent barrier formed in a cube around me. All at once, sound outside the barrier ceased and I could only hear my own shuddering breaths and hammering heartbeat.

He had cut me off.

' _This is it_ " I thought hollowly. Despite myself, the tears started to flow; I couldn't help it. This isn't what I wanted. It wasn't fair. Sure, I made some bad decisions, but this? Forever? I was only 21! As I started to count of the thousands, millions and billions of years I would have to spend in that place, tears started to flow even more. I looked up and about frantically. I had to beg. I had to convince him that there had to be another way. Anything but this!

I looked outside the barrier and found Kielzad and Hikio engaged in conversation, I couldn't tell what the exact nature of it due to that goddamn poker face he always had. I wiped my eyes on my shoulder to clear my vision. Upon closer inspection - Hikio's slightly more animated hand movements, mostly - could it be… argument? In spite of the situation, I couldn't help the small burgeoning hope than sprang up in my chest. Was he making a case for me?

They talked for a couple more minutes, after I had long since given up on reading their lips. Suddenly, Hikio gestured to me, and they both turned to my direction. I jolted upright and gave both of them the most pleading look I could muster, not even having to slightly feign my desperation. They turned back and resumed talking.

More time passed, and Hikio seemed to get more and more downcast and even agitated, which didn't bode well for me. At some point he even put his head in hands and just stayed like that for half a minute. Eventually, I began to give up hope and even resigned myself to my fate. Or at least, I tried to. Every time I closed my eyes or looked off into the distance, all I could see was the zeroes pilling up. Quintillions of years, never ending suffering. Might as well have taken my chances with hell, much good this _bastard_ did me. I started to cry once more.

All of a sudden, a bright light began to emanate from Kielzad's direction. I could feel a strange tugging sensation all over my body and I realised that I was being… removed. Taken away. I was off to spend eternity in…

Like a wounded lion, I got my second wind and fought harder against the straps than ever before. I strained in Kielzad's direction and screamed incoherently for another chance. If I could just do this over! If I could just at least _talk this out_ and explain myself!

Then everything faded to white.

* * *

I don't know how much time had passed but I woke up with a start and immediately registered two things. First and most prevalent; my arms were on fire. Metaphorically. Second was the biting chill. It swept across my exposed thighs and my teeth began to chatter. I struggled to get my bearings. Should probably open my eyes first though. It didn't take long for them to adjust, as the room was nearly as dark as my closed eyelids, stone walls buried in shadows cast from a single candle on a table in front of me. Victorian, I think. Or Gothic, I couldn't really tell the difference. I took a look around the room in an attempt to identify where I was...

...and as soon as I did, all semblance of grogginess left me and a fear the likes of which I had never experienced gripped me to the depths of my soul, recent events notwithstanding. The real reason it was so dark was because the entire room, from floor to walls were covered with black stains in patterns that only blood could make. Large contraptions of wood and iron adorned the space, leaving no doubt in my mind as to the room's purpose.

It was a torture chamber.

I tried to move but found myself once again restrained, this time by chains and manacles embedded in the wall behind me. I tried to stand up only to realise that my legs were already off the floor. All I could do was dangle from my wrists, which explained the searing pain in my arms.

I was held captive. In a torture chamber.

This was my new reality.

I almost lost the ability to think. Raw panic injected itself into me but before I could act on it, the sound of footsteps echoed from beyond the thick wooden door. Someone was coming. I wrenched my mind back towards proper functionality and did the only thing I could do; fall limp and pretend to still be unconscious.

The footsteps grew closer and the door opened with a loud creak. More footsteps. Seemed to be about 2 or more people, they entered the room. They were talking in hushed tones in a language that sounded familiar yet I didn't have the soundness of mind to identify. Both female. More speaking and shuffling of the feet.

This went on for about half a minute, before the sound of groaning emerged from my right, halting their conversation. Were there other captives? I hadn't had time to check. A few seconds passed before the newcomer began to speak in clear Japanese-

"What the-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by his own blood curdling scream. The sound of his chains rattling madly made a distressingly loud cacophony in the windowless room. I could only hang there, paralyzed with fear, as the apparent torture continued. I almost flinched when I felt a drop of what I could only assume was the poor man's blood land on my cheek. About thirty seconds later, whatever they were doing to him ceased and the women left the room. The man beside me breathed raggedly, throwing out the occasional expletive. I had a suspicion I knew who it was, but it made no sense. Why would he...?

I slowly turned to my right wincing at the gruesome sight of-

-Hikio in a navy blue t-shirt and black gym shorts.

What? Where was all the blood? Besides even more sweat (which I realised must have been what touched me), he looked virtually untouched.

"Hikio?" I inquired tentatively, "Are you... alright?"

He continued to pant heavily before looking blearily at me, "M-miur-aAAAAAGGH!"

He once again screamed and began to thrash wildly, seemingly unprovoked. I turned away from him and looked back down on the ground and around the room. I tried to ignore the sound.

I felt numb.

* * *

Well, here we are, the first actual chapter. Thanks a lot for the reviews for the prologue, it really did help motivate me to write this, and I really like reading your feedback. It's like... food, but moooore, straw-esque. Something that you'd need a straw to drink. Slushies? More visceral. Like, if I was a zombie, and I drank liquefied brains from a slushie cup. That's what your reviews are like. Yum.

And that motivation was needed, as you can see from the time it took to get this out. Not that I didn't _want_ to write this, I did, but well. You know how it is. At any rate, I promise you guys that it will NEVER take me this long to bring out a chapter again. Hell, I'm planning to release one of about this length every week, if possible. Hopefully, by stating it here for everyone to see I will feel pressured to make that a reality.

I don't really plan on using these authors notes to write anything concerning the story's contents itself, probably, so you can feel free to read it and not get spoiled (that may sound a bit strange, but it's the reason I usually skip authors notes personally).

Anyways, this story is going to be long as BALLS, and I WILL finish it, so strap in boys and girls. It's gonna be a grand o'le shitshow.

I really need a beta. I've edit after posting it like 3 times already haha.

Syclone out.


	3. Cryoshock

**Chapter 2 - Cryoshock**

Repetition doesn't exist.

Technically. Physically. The laws of causality dictate as much. Due to the complex chaos system that is our universe, on a purely physical level, a situation in which phenomena would truly repeat would, logically be imposipainpainpainpainPAINPAINAPAIN!

I screamed into the dark room as the searing agony temporarily subsided. The spaces between the flare ups were mercifully increasing. I didn't know how much time had passed since those people did… whatever they did, but I-

"AaaaaAAAAAAHHH!" That was a particularly bad one. Oh God this hurts so goddamn much! It felt like all my blood had been replaced with boiling oil. Though, it was still better than the boiling lead that it was when this started.

"Hikio" a voice beside me spoke up. Who was that again? "Hikio I- I don't know what they did to you, and I know it hurts but we - we really have to get out of here."

Oh right, Miura was here. That's a bit embarrassing; it's a good thing I'm sweating so badly, it was hopefully hiding the fact that I'd been crying my eyes out this whole time.

"Hikio, can you hear me? Please, say something."

"Y-yeah" I managed, "I-I can hear yoouummMMMMMMMMMGHH!"

Alright, I managed not to scream out loud that time. Progress.

"I c-can hear you."

"We really need to get out of here Hikio. I… I think it might be night right now, so whoever… is here might be asleep. But we really need to move."

How did she know what time it was? The pain came back, even more intense this time.

"J-just a while longer…" Leaving? I didn't want to move. Thinking alone was hard enough…

"Look, I get that you're in pain or whatever but listen alright? When those people came here, I kind of got the sense that they weren't supposed to be here for some reason. I mean, they were only here for like, a minute or something." She took in a breath, "I really, really, don't want to know what happens when they take their time so please…"

My body did it's best to ignore her words - and did to some extent - but the logician in me latched on to some of them and I opened my eyes. If there was any sort of opportunity to escape this hellhole, now would be it.

Whilst I had a moment's reprieve, I took the time to re-examine my surroundings. Okay, it was a dungeon. No windows. One exit - the door.

"A-alright" I breathed, "Alright let's-"

Flare up.

"L-let's… get out of here. Any… any ideas?"

"I was really hoping you'd have one."

"Sorry, I've been a little bit- HNNGGGGGHHH…! A little b-bit preoccupied."

I heard her scoff. Where's your sense of humor Miura-sama?

Whatever. Think Hachiman.

"Okay" I raised myself up by my arms, "First… first thing, we need to get out of these cuffs." I craned my neck backwards to look at my restraints. Iron shackles attached to chains which were in turn embedded into the walls. I looked too my left at Miura's just in case they were different. The same. Good.

Looks like our captors didn't read a lot of Ted Dekker.

"Luckily for us" I said, "I can probably handle that."

Miura let out a large breath, "Oh thank God. Thank God…"

I stretched my legs downward - I was just tall enough to reach the floor - and stood on my toes. No longer hanging by my arms, I was able to put my hands together.

"Don't s-start singing praises yet." I informed her, "It's not a p-particularly… wholesome method, to put it lightly." I grabbed my right thumb with my left hand, "Seeing as I'm a-already in _unimaginable_ pain right now, I'm barely going to feel it but", I pressed hard against the digit's socket until a small pop echoed in the room, "It's probably gonna hurt."

I unceremoniously slipped my right hand out of it's shackle.

"Wait" Miura hesitated, "Wait did you just… you dislocated your finger?"

I popped my thumb back into place, withstood another rush of pain, then got to work on my left hand, "Yeah, kinda."

"Oh."

My work finished and left thumb back in alignment, I took a moment to appreciate my newfound feeling of freedom. A feeling that was swiftly undercut by yet another flare up. What the hell did they _do_ to me?

Wait for it to pass.

Okay.

I shook my head and looked at Miura before reaching up to her left hand.

"W-wait!" she cried.

"What?"

"Just wait alright? Let me get ready!"

I looked at her squirming for a second and was briefly reminded of Komachi taking her flu shots. Needles were always one of the only things that got her to act her age. Komachi…

I blinked. No reminiscing. You don't have the time or the right to.

I decided to ignore Miura's apprehension and reached for her hand again, only to receive swift retaliation via a kick to my abdomen, causing me to fall on my ass.

"I said wait!"

I clicked my tongue in irritation, getting back up "Dammit woman, what happened to all that urgency? Do you _want_ to stay here?"

Miura's eyes visibly softened and she closed them and took a deep breath, seemingly gathering her resolve.

She reopened them and gave me a steely look, "Alright. Do it."

Looks like she's been filled with determination. Better save your game while you can, but please, no genocide run after this, okay?

I nodded back and reached once more for her hand.

"Mmuuuuuuuu… Owowowo _OOWW_!" she shrieked. Pop. Slip. Click.

One down.

"Sorry. It'll- NGGGHHH…! It'll… hurt less the next time."

"Oooowww… wait hold on waitwaitwai- _OOOOWW! That was even worse!_ "

"My finger slipped. My bad."

Her hands probably stinging but free, she fell to the ground. Only, that involved using said hands to brace herself.

"Ah-!"

Almost as if in slow motion, I watched as Miura's arms reflexively recoiled. I'm not sure how I managed to react quickly enough, but I was able to reach down and pull her up before her admittedly beautiful face made sweet love with the hard stone floor. Wasn't there a saying about picking up girls and dungeons?

There must have been, because I was rewarded with the worst surge of pain I've had so far.

My entire world went white, black and every color between. I couldn't hear, I couldn't move, I couldn't feel anything except the blinding agony rippling through every facet of my being. Nondescript shapes meandered about my vision, fading in and out my periphery. I could do nothing to resist.

It was…

I…

Slowly, my consciousness faded back in and I found myself sitting on something. The ground. I was propped up against the wall apparently. Where was I again? I felt exhausted. I opened my eyes slightly to find Miura standing in front of me, one hand tentatively if not awkwardly reaching out to… help me? I don't know. I let out a groan and the hand retreated.

"Are… you okay?" she haltingly asked.

No. "Yeah" I ignored the lingering pain and rose to my feet, albeit slowly. My whole body still felt worse than a wicker man at a steel mill. I needed a distraction. My eyes roamed the room and landed on a solid looking wooden door.

Escaping. Right.

I stretched "How long was I out?"

She stepped back, massaging her hands with each other, "About ten seconds? You just fell on m- the floor, I moved you to the wall, then you woke up again. Despite how skinny you look, you're actually pretty heavy."

"Thanks… I think" I offered. We moved towards the door and stopped just short of it. It was one of those old, medieval dungeon doors that didn't have knob, just an iron ring handle. More than likely, there was a bolt lock on the other side. MIura looked at me.

"I don't remember hearing a lock when they came in"

Hah? No way they left it unlocked. All the same, I reached out and grabbed the weird door handle. Before I pulled it though, a thought occurred to me.

"It's probably expected that people in a dungeon would, erm, yell. From this point on though… " I began to slowly pull the door handle. It gave. The guards or whomever the hell lived here seriously didn't bother to even lock the place. I really hoped it was simply negligence. Whatever. I swiftly pulled open the door to avoid a drawn out creak. Orange light invaded our vision as we beheld an ornately decorated Gothic(?) era castle hallway, complete with elaborately embroidered rugs, gleaming suits of armor and lit torch scones.

"Wow." I whispered, contemplating what sort of person put the door to a dungeon in such a decorated hallway. Realising that time was of the essence, I kicked my brain into high gear, "Anyway, from this point on, any sounds we make will be out of the norm, and we-"

Miura was already leaning out the door however, "Hikio, lets-"

"Yeah, we'll leave" I reassured, "Though I really think it's best we're on the same page before we do anything further. Regardless of the look of this hallway, we're probably quite a ways from any eventual escape routes. We should probably devise a safe method to comb through-"

"Hikio!" She was scowling at me now. That caused me to frown in turn; now matter how anxious she was to leave, this was her life she was playing with, didn't she realise that for us to have any chance-

"The exit is right here!"

I blinked, "What?"

Miura jabbed a thumb out of the doorway, to our right. I cautiously poked my head out and looked where I was directed and lo and behold, a door, open the full 90 degrees with the snow clad world called "outside" that lay beyond it. Icy wind blew in unimpeded, causing the torches' flames to flicker about.

"This-" I tried, flabbergasted, "this can't be right." I looked back at our empty shackles and chains, then at the unlocked door right next to me. Suddenly, it became all too clear.

"It's a trap" I surmised, "And quite an obvious one too, we- Oi!"

Miura wasn't having it though. Maybe it was the brief taste of freedom from escaping the torture chamber, but she took off running in the direction of the door, seemingly without a second thought.

"Tch." I ran after her, hoping to stop her before she sprung whatever ambush lay outside. The hallway was too short however, and I could only watch as she crossed the door's threshold and…!

...came to a stop about ten feet out from the doorway. Hesitantly, I stepped out as well, and looked frantically around, waiting for the other shoe to drop. A few seconds passed and, still, nothing. What the hell?

I looked behind at the building we had emerged from and - as I suspected - it was indeed a castle; towers, turrets, buttresses, the works. The stonework was darker than one would expect, though maybe that could have just been the peculiar lighting situatio-

"Stop staring and let's get the hell out of here! Do you want to get caught?!"

A little startled, I ignored the feeling of indignation and nodded my agreement, moving to catch up with her as she set off in the direction opposite the castle door (which, from the architecture, must actually be the building's rear). In front of us, a forest of pine trees rose high into the air, providing potential cover and obscuring the majority of the sky from view. We trudged along the ankle deep snow at a brisk pace, wading into the treeline and into the shadow of the forest.

Among the many thoughts battling for dominance in my mind was the fact that I couldn't really feel the cold. It was probably due to the pain in my body being so all encompassing that the frigid temperatures didn't register, even in the snow, but I still felt that there ought to be _some_ sensation at least.

Looking over to Miura, I could tell that the same was not true for her, as even though we had more or less just come outside, she was already shivering from head to toe. She was being a trooper about it though, so I felt I shouldn't comment, at least not yet.

We kept walking in silence. As I turned my eyes back to the snow, I began to let my mind wander a bit.

There were a million questions running through my head; who lived in that castle? What the hell did they do to me? Why were both doors open? Who builds a dungeon right beside the door to the exit anyway? Did Kielzad drop us into the dungeon, or were we taken there after a period of unconsciousness? Where the hell were we anyway, and what was up with the sunlight?

I couldn't tell from the forest, but I remembered it from nearer to the castle's vicinity - the ground, the actual area we were in felt like nighttime but the sky was… well, it was bright. There were stars vaguely visible, and it was the dark blue hue characteristic of some lighter nights, but it was still… too bright. It looked like the pseudo-night time you saw in movies or video games where you could tell it was supposed to be night, but most things were still perfectly visible and lit. The moon wasn't out either and…

The sound of what seemed like Miura stumbling brought me out of my thoughts and I looked to see that she had done just that. Weirdly though, she hadn't said anything or even cried out. A little concerned, I walked over to her as she was getting up and noticed that her shivering had worsened and her lips seemed to be a frighteningly pale shade of blue.

Wait, how long had we been walking?

I stopped in my tracks. Her eyes, unfocused until now, snapped to me when she noticed me stop.

"W-w-what?"

For the first time since arriving here, I actually took in Miura's form - particularly her clothing - and almost screamed at my, or I guess our, stupidity. She was wearing a very short sleeved t-shirt and short shorts. No shoes. A typical girls stay at home outfit. Shelving that information for later, I walked up to her to get a closer look.

She shied away from me reflexively, "I-I asked y-you w-what are you d-doing?"

"We've been walking for close to 20 minutes" I explained, "With those clothes and you walking in the snow like that, you're probably about to develop a case of hypothermia."

Her eyes hardened and she seemed to make a point of standing upright and continuing to walk, going a bit faster now.

"All the better we f-find somewhere to hole up."

I followed after her, "I agree. Having said that, it would most likely be beneficial to-"

"Shh!" Miura froze (figuratively) and her voice lowered to a whisper, "Do you hear that?"

I strained my ears for a couple of seconds and my heart skipped a beat when I made out the sound of voices. Miura and I exchanged alarmed looks.

'Hide' she mouthed before turning away. I jolted myself out of my shock and frantically looked around. Trees were too thin. Look, look… there. I found a relatively large boulder about 50 feet away and crouched behind it.

The voices were approaching from almost directly in front of us, about 30 degrees to the left of our path. Seconds passed and the voices slowly grew closer. I could make them out a bit better now. 2 female and… they were speaking… was that English?

" _...lieve... did that… akes you... deserve something like that._ "

" _...y do you even care_?"

" _I don't. Not really at any rate. But why would they do that though? Them? It's suspicious._ "

They were about 50 feet away now. I wasn't exactly at the level wherein I could differentiate accents with much accuracy, but British ones in particular were quite easy to identify, due to how fundamentally differently they pronounced the words. So what, were we on Earth? My mind nearly stretched itself with the possibilities as I continued my eavesdropping.

" _Suspicious how? They know better, I'd imagine. And again, who cares if they're plotting anything malicious? They're what, three of them? We'll just kill them and be done with it. Better yet, stuff them in the kitchen. Actually, now that I think about it, we could just turn back and..._ "

My eyes widened. I did _not_ like where this was going.

" _The big guy does look rather… tender doesn't he? But we'd better not. You know how hard it is to keep them fresh long enough for that. You also know how much I hate the smell of rotting meat. The two we have right now will have to do._ "

My blood ran cold. What the hell…?

I didn't have any time to mull it over though, they were now almost right next to me. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as I tried to stay as still as possible. Long, deep breaths. They had passed the rock; if one of them turned around, I would be discovered. I couldn't see where Miura had hidden, though in this circumstance that was a blessing. I could only hope that was the case with the two... women as well.

My fearful ruminations were cut off as a surge of white hot agony rippled through my body. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to cry out. I could not stop myself from shifting slightly however, making a small rustling sound. No!

My heart skipped a bit and I closed my eyes in fear. Please don't turn around!

The seconds ticked by, and before I knew it, the voices had faded away into the distance. I waited about a minute longer just to be sure.

Nothing.

I slowly climbed to my feet and dusted the snow off my shirt and shorts. Satisfying my paranoia by taking one more good look at the direction of the castle, I decided to look for Miura.

"Miura."

No answer. How far away did she hide? I started to walk around my immediate vicinity, periodically calling out to her.

There wasn't a lot of wind in this area, so thankfully I was able to hear a weak groan in response to her name. Looking in the direction of the noise, I saw what I had assumed to be a snowdrift wiggle and shake off its snow, revealing the person underneath.

Her eyes were nearly closed and her breaths came slow and shallow. She was barely even shivering anymore. Her hypothermia was worsening. Quickly.

Putting aside her, erm, gender for the moment, I dusted the snow from her body as best I could while picking her up and securing her on my back. I considered using my own clothes as an extra layer for her, but thought better of it. My lack of sensation to the cold might be some sort of delayed reaction. Miura was out of it; if I went down now, we were screwed.

"N-nobuo?" she asked unsteadily.

Who? The disorientation must have set in.

"Hikigaya." I answered.

I looked around. What do I do? I couldn't go back to the castle for obvious reasons, but if I didn't get Miura to somewhere warm, she'd die. Think Hachiman!

"Oh… Hikio."

Ignore it, you have more pressing matters to deal with it. My actual name being seemingly locked out of everyone's minds could be addressed another time.

Wait. Locked?

 _I don't remember hearing a lock when they came in._

Miura had said that. I had assumed she hadn't gotten a look at our captor's sex and was using the gender neutral "they". Could she have been talking about multiple people? The two women? That would mean that they left the castle not too long ago.

"W-why are… oh right… we're dead." Seems she had her memory intact at least.

"Miura, try and remember, was it two women who came into the room earlier?"

"What…?" A pause. "Y-yeah, it was I think."

Alright, so far so good.

"Okay. Do you remember how long we've spent here? Since we woke up I mean."

An even longer pause, "Ab-bout an hour… maybe a little less…"

The gears in my head began to spin, "I see. It took us 20 minutes to get here. If it took those two an hour to get to their destination and back to this point then that means they would have just about arrived there when we left the castle. 20 minutes to get here, 20 minutes to get to _there_ , 20 minutes to get back here. 1 hour. Which means, at worst, we're halfway to wherever they went.

"Giving room for time spent there doing whatever, the place is about 15 to 20 minutes away walking speed. I'm not sure what we're gonna find if we go there but it's probably better than going back to the castle." I approximated the direction and began walking, "They were talking about some people they… didn't like. Maybe that's who they went to meet? Worth a shot."

Miura shifted her - ahem - self, on my back and I readjusted her position. Thinking again, I started a light jog, ignoring the jiggling bits behind me. The earlier we get there, the better.

Miura spoke up, "They were… they were speaking English right?"

"Yeah."

"You... c-could understand them?"

I smirked despite myself, "Yeah. I'm pretty fluent in English. It's sort of my greatest achievement."

And it was. So many hours of studying, of practicing. At least it didn't have any Kanji to memorize and was simple to write, but the phonetics. God, the phonetics...

"Wow, that's… "

Please don't start praising me so suddenly! I know bilingualism is seen as a desirable trait in society, but I really don't like blushing in front of others!

"...pretty sad."

Urk!

"T-that it's your greatest achievement, I mean."

"Yeah, I got it." Well, at least the talking kept her awake...

"W-why anyway? Was it… part of y-your job or something?"

"No. It was... well, to be frank, it was the media."

"The m-media made you learn English?"

"Yes. I mean no, not like that. There's a lot of really good western media that's only in English. movies, games, comics. That sort of thing. Once I entered the rabbit hole of western media, well, it was inevitable."

She let out a sighing kind of sound that suddenly made me feel like I had failed the entrance exam to my university of choice.

"Figures."

Salvaging what was left of my pride, I continued, "Regardless, I'm glad I did, looks like it's gonna be pretty useful here."

Miura shifted again. Oi, I'm not a couch cushion! Don't get comfortable back there, this is only a temporary arrangement!

"S-speaking of which… where exactly is… here?"

Hmm. How to approach this.

"This doesn't look like a d-desert planet."

I glanced ahead and around us. Guess we hadn't gone far enough yet. Was this really the time and place though?

"What d-did you… what did you and that bastard talk about while I w-was trapped in that… thing?"

Well, nothing for it then.

"Well" I began, "In order, first, I'm not entirely certain where we are. He didn't really specify. Though, as you guessed, this isn't the place you were… meant to go. As for what we talked about..."

I took a moment to gather my thoughts.

"Basically" I started, "he made it known that the main reason he personally does what he does, that is, observing humans and giving out judgement, is for amusement and catharsis. He didn't like you, apparently, and making you suffer would make him feel good, and the opposite for me. Following that logic I… told him that what I wanted in that moment was to… _not_ see you suffer."

Ugh, putting this into words was extremely embarrassing.

"* _Ahem_ * At any rate, in pursuit of more amusement, he made me an offer; he'd postpone our sentencing, so to speak, if we… went to a world of his… particular design and undertook a quest. That quest being…

"To "Destroy the Stem". Whatever that means. If we do that, you come with me to my _actual_ afterlife. You can probably guess what happens if we're unsuccessful."

A pause, "Y-yeah, I can…" She stayed silent for another moment, "but still, H-hikio I… I can't believe… you really did that… But your afterlife was so… why?"

The overly emotional tone she now adopted distressed me greatly and I felt my face start to redden, "D-don't misunderstand. It's really not that big a deal. I'm just taking out a few months or years or however long this takes to do this. What's that compared to eternal paradise or torment? Literally any normal person would do this."

"N-no Hikio" ugh that voice again, "most people wouldn't. Especially n-not for me… thank you. Honestly, I m-mean it. From the bottom of my hea-"

"Also, if I'm being honest, it'll really boost my karma score. Hot maids are nice and all, but those existed on earth. I want catgirls and succubi! Not to mention, I could probably get _real_ versions of my all waifus. Wait for me Rias-chan, Ryoko-tan! Ehehehe~ ack!"

"Give me back my thanks. Give it back to me right now!"

"Ow! Hey, stop that! I'm still carrying you you know!"

"Then put me down, I'll walk by myse…" she trailed off, and I didn't blame her. In front of us, past the diminishing treeline that marked the edge of the forest, we caught glimpses of a large, all-encompassing orange glow.

Our conversation halted, I hefted Miura a bit higher on my back and slowed my pace to a more deliberate gait. As we got closer, my eyes struggled against the light. It was almost oppressive in its luminosity. I walked out of the forest, waiting for my eyes to adjust. What could possibly be this bright? I was starting to regain my vision, but it still-

"What the-!" Miura yelled directly into my ear, "Hikio stop! Hikio!"

I figuratively slammed the brakes, shocked, "What? I can't see yet, what's happening?!"

It took Miura a full three seconds to answer, during which my sight had almost finished clearing up.

"O-Oh _shit_."

I barely registered her comment. My mind didn't have the room. I couldn't even muster an answer I was so flabbergasted. I looked to my left and right, absorbing more information as my mind struggled to piece together what in God's name I was seeing.

"Oh shit" was my shaky reply, "At least we now… we know where… we are…"

The sight that greeted us established a few concrete things about our current location and the world we had been sent to at large:

About two feet in front of me, the ground cut off in what would have been a sheer cliff… if there was anything underneath it. Good thing Miura stopped me when she did. To the left and right out from us, the land curved back in on itself, vaguely circular in nature; it was an island. A floating island.

And below it, the actual… planet stretched out in all directions, it's curvature plain to see. The view stretched out seemingly forever. Kansas, this was not.

It would have been beautiful, where it not for the fact that the entire thing was a giant mass of red, pulsing, viscous molten metal.

You wouldn't know it without looking though, I couldn't feel any sort of heat radiating from it, though I had no idea how many hundreds if not thousands of miles above the surface we were. It was like viewing the sun from up close. I guess this was the cause of the weird lighting I noticed. Almost directly below our island, there was another one some miles below us… and were those buildings? Farmland too. So the world must be made up-

"Hikio, I-It's really crazy and all yeah but I… can't f-feel my legs right now."

I snapped back to reality; oh right.

I gave a low apology and looked around again. Evidently, I had misjudged the angle the women's destination had been in, though I suspected not by much. Now, which way could it have been?

"There" Miura answered as if reading my mind. She was pointing to our left, "There's… a fire there. L-look."

I turned to that direction, but the light of the pseudo sun below us was blending this way and that in my vision.

"Are you sure?" I asked, "How can you even tell in this light?"

"What? I c-can see pretty… well."

From her tone, I could tell Miura was beginning to have some real trouble breathing, which meant it was time to go. I set off in the direction she pointed, sticking to the forest's boundary, about 30 feet away from the island's edge. I still couldn't see the fire she apparently saw. Doesn't matter. I felt her head slowly go slack on my right shoulder.

Gotta keep her awake.

"Oi" I called, lightly nudging her head with mine, "Wake up. Don't fall asleep."

There was a low moan, but otherwise nothing.

"Tell me about the latest fashion trends… or something. What're the _in_ … fabrics these days?"

No response. Not good. Victims of hypothermia often slept right before dying. I tapped her thigh twice. No dice.

Oi, this wasn't funny. I didn't want to have to do _that_ again. But this was life and death; what choice did I have?

I sighed and resigned myself to what was to come.

Angling her body to rest mostly on my left side, I secured Miura more firmly on my back and brought my hand in position.

I pinched a good portion of flesh on her thigh-

-and twisted.

I felt Miura's teeth in my shoulder before I could even finish re-adjusting her position. Unfortunately, this was less 50 Shades and more… Twilight.

"OW! Owowow- oi! Stop!"

What the heck? Isn't she supposed to be debilitated or something? That hurt like hell! Just when my condition had started to better too. Is constant physical pain some sort of requirement to living in this world?! Discretion be damned, I have a mouth, and I _will_ scream!

Finally, after she had (almost literally) extracted her pound of flesh, she relented her assault.

"The fu…" she breathed, voice as icy as the pallor of her skin, "what do you… think you're…"

I, yet again, ignored the pain, "You weren't waking up. I had to do something."

I continued to walk, receiving silence as a response. Didn't think she'd drop it so easily.

"Sorry" she whispered, "for… biting you."

An apology? _Huh_?! That seemed… quite a little bit out of character. Maybe it was the cold? Hmm... On the one hand, I hadn't seen her in years. So far, we hadn't exactly been in a low stress situation yet. Maybe she'd changed. On the other, we were here for a reason…

"Hikio…"

"Hm?"

"How… did you die?"

Well then.

"You probably shouldn't be thinking about such things right now" I tried.

"Sorry" she breathed, "You don't… have to tell me."

Another apology? Now I was really starting to get worried. Well, if it was keeping her awake.

"Eh" I relented, "It's fine. It'll come up eventually anyways." I cleared my throat, "Basically, I was taking a… jog down the street. Tried to turn a corner, tripped." I sighed, "The last thing I saw was a large red tru-"

I was interrupted by the sound of short bursts of laughter. Yes Miura, I know it's cliche but honestly, this is my death we're talking about. Have a little empa… hang on, that wasn't Miura.

The sound was coming from way out in front of us. Distracted by our conversation, I had failed to notice the faint shades of orange and yellow flickering between the trees, nearer to the island's edge.

A fire. Well I'll be damned.

I halted, "Miura" I said, lowering my voice, "It looks like you were… right?"

"Don't" she coughed, "m-make it sound like I'm… stupid."

"What?" I could hear muffled voices from the fire's direction, "No, it's not that you're… hang on."

I adopted a slow, methodical pace to minimize my footfalls on the snow. I moved around to get a better angle of vision and managed to get a good picture of the situation in front of us.

There were 3 men of... quite large stature, with the biggest of them being over 6 feet tall, albeit bearing a sizable paunch. He had long brown hair and a huge, unkempt beard. The other two were blond and a bit more nondescript. They all wore bulky sets of animal skin clothing to fend off the cold and were sitting on what looked to be animal furs around a large, inviting campfire that bore a slab of meat on a spit, seemingly making merry with tankards of water or alcohol in their hands.

"And so I says to 'im" the big one chuckled, "I says to 'im, that's not a potty, that's yer wife!"

They all burst into uproarious laughter and I cringed. Whatever. I adjusted Miura's position on my back; we needed that fire, and maybe some other things from these men. I didn't like the concept of asking for charity, but right now, every second counted.

I began a steady advance towards their campsite before I felt Miura pull on me.

"Wait H-hikio." she said, "P-put me down for a sec."

"Hah?" I stopped, "Miura, you can barely even-"

By now she was wriggling and pushing and I eventually acquiesced. Setting her as gently on her feet as I could, I was surprised to find that she actually stayed upright, though not without visible strain. Her face went through a variety of emotions, exhaustion being chief among them, before settling on her steely, snake-eyed visage of determination.

"L-l-let's" she took a shuddering breath and set off towards the men, "Let's go, Hikio."

Sufficiently impressed by her mental fortitude, I got in step beside her. So far, I had gotten the sense that this place was some sort of bastardization of medieval Europe. Their dialect of English fit the part anyway. As we approached the treeline, I realized that we probably should avoid sneaking up on them if we could.

Well, when in Rome… or I guess, Anglia...

"Hail" I called out in an embarrassingly quiet voice. They didn't hear me. I tried again, "Hail!"

The men sobered up considerably and looked in our direction.

"Who goes there?" The brown haired yelled in reply, "Friend or foe?"

"Friend, friend!" I answered as we exited the forest into their line of sight. I stopped at the edge of the campsite, as did Miura, partly due to politeness, but mostly because I couldn't help but gawk at what I had originally assumed due to the dim light was a large rock, but turned out to be… a bit more so.

Nearing the island's edge sat a large... machine-like thing. I say machine-like because despite the fact that it had - or at least the exterior had - the usual gears, notches, ridges and pipes you would imagine a steam train would, it seemed to be made of a marble-esque rock, reflective in some parts, transparent in others. The whole thing was about the size of 2 double decker buses put side by side and it was, well… It was shaped just like...

"Hikio" Miura whispered, "N-no matter how you look at it… isn't that a spaceship?!"

Not quite, but I couldn't blame her for the comparison. All sides of the contraption sported large, hollow cylinders of varying sizes, most facing outward, with three on the rear being the largest. It's nose funneled to a point at the front where the rock was see-through, probably the cockpit. All in all, it was no X-wing, but it was most definitely a flying machine of some sort. Made sense, given the geography.

"Something wrong with me Manavi?" I snapped back to the largest man.

"Your… manavi?" I hesitantly asked, testing the new word. Wasn't anything I had ever heard. Which made sense, given said word's subject.

One of the blonde men turned the meat on the spit, "What? Ain't never seen a manavi before? 'Ow in the void king's name'd you get e're then?"

Uh oh. It seemed that coming up with a plausible cover story had slipped my mind. Thankfully though, the brown haired one rescued us from that particular headache.

"Where the hell're your manners Lirin?" he asked as the other blonde man, not-Lirin, took over the meat roasting duties, "Poor lass looks to be gettin' a case o' Frostfoot. Well don't just stand there freezing yer knickers off" he reached behind him and in an impressive display of strength, grabbed a heavy looking bundle of animal furs, "pull up a fur lad."

He flung the hide at me. I moved to catch-

 _PAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!_

Poison, fire and lightning pumped through every blood vessel, every nerve ending, every cell in my body. For what could have been a minute but felt like a year, pain became my whole world.

Worse. It was worse than before. I couldn't even pretend this time. A small part of me could hear screaming, see my orientation shift, but that part was swiftly overshadowed by the mind-numbing anguish.

Time as a concept faded from my perception; all that existed was the pain, the discomfort. I didn't know where I was, was I was doing. It hurts so goddamn much!

I couldn't do this anymore.

I had tried to push past it before, but I just couldn't _do_ this anymore! I wasn't _built_ for this! I'm a city kid in his early twenties, not some fucking battle-hardened soldier! Why was this happening to me, of all people?! What did I do to _deserve_ this?! Why did I have to… why did…?

Though my haze of physical and mental distress, something began to cut through the noise of despair as it threatened to overwhelm me. Something… or someone. A figure in my minds eye, silhouetted by bright light. Its shoulder-length hair buffeted by wind that I couldn't hear or perceive. I felt, rather than saw, her mouth move, though I knew what she was going to say without her finishing; I'd heard those words countless times after all. Slowly, sensation began to grow faint, and even the pain started to fade.

Oh…

That was why this was happening. That was why I deserved this.

* * *

Gradually, the light dwindled and her features came into existence. Her hair lightened and extended even as her minuscule movements grew more animated. As if from a great distance, little by little her rosy voice whispered to me…

"...up... up you…"

Hmm? What was that?

"..et up you dumbass! Don't just keel over and die all of a sudden, I don't speak the damn language!"

Oi, since when did you talk like that?! That's rather crude, isn't it?

"It's awkward as hell, or at least, it would be if they weren't still laughing their asses off! Hey, I know you can fucking hear me, you're reacting to my swearing! So open those rotten, disgusting eyes and wake _up_ Hikio!"

And just like that, I'm snapped back to reality. Alrighty then… gravity? Sitting down in the snow. I'm… being pinned to a wall? Unfortunately, as my senses returned to me, so did the pain, albeit as a dull ache. Thank God for very very large mercies.

"You're supposed to kiss me" I groaned out, slowly opening my eyes, "...not denigrate my physical appearance. Actually, doesn't that make it harder for you?"

My vision cleared up to see a surprised expression on Miura's face. Wait… so me reacting to her swearing was just a bluff? I could have rested for five more minutes!

Her face darkened, "You're not sleeping and you sure as hell aren't beautiful." Ouch! "I'm letting go now, my arms are tired."

Hmm?

Suddenly, Miura's hands, which had been pinning me to a tree to keep me upright up to this point, retracted. Thankfully, I managed to catch myself before taking an embarrassing spill.

"Thanks" I offered. Regaining my bearings, I took a look around, to find the three men doubled over in laughter at my expense. I got up, a little unnerved at their apparent callousness. Miura and I walked back to the campfire, set up the furs and sat on them.

Largely ignoring us, the three men took the hunk of meat off the spit and began to eat. They also continued to drink what I was now sure was alcohol - given their increasingly slurred speech - and swap stories of… questionable validity. As they did so, Miura took the opportunity to more properly warm up, wrapping herself in one of the furs, while I tried my best to acquire whatever information I could from their conversation. Which wasn't much. Between recounts of "deflowered wenches" and bar room brawls, I managed to glean their names: the big brown haired one was Malacas, and not-Lirin was Hodrick. Sounded about right. Other than that, I couldn't make out anything about this world other than it sounded like, again, a bastardized version of medieval Europe.

Looking past them, I acknowledged that the civilization might be that way, but the topography clearly wasn't. We were on a floating island for goodness sake. Going further, considering what looked like the planet's core was in plain view, it was safe to say that the entire _world_ was made up of floating islands. How the hell that was possible was beyond me, but then again, who knew what laws governed reality here.

I turned my gaze above to the stars, when caused something to occur to me; shouldn't I be able to see the other landmasses from here? I peered back over the island's edge. Taking a closer look, I could see some sort of… filmy substance moving about in the air. It's color was hard to tell due to the multiple light sources. Clouds? I couldn't really see any now that I thought about it. How would clouds even work here?

I pondered on this for a while. You had to really squint to see it, and it didn't seem to be venturing too close to the island. Wonder why that is. At any rate, it stood to reason that the further out I looked, the more my vision would be blocked by it, kind of like really thin fog. I guess that explained why I couldn't see any more islands besides that one below us.

I heard a rustling noise and moved to see Miura adjusting her sitting position. She had a sour look on her face, but at least that face had lost its grim pallor. Her lips had turned back to their normal color too. I sighed. Disaster averted, for the time being anyway.

"What?" she asked, glancing in my direction. Oi, don't lean away from me, my staring is purely innocent!

"Just assessing your condition." I replied, "How are you feeling?"

She turned back to gaze into the fire, "Better mostly. Actually, how the hell are _you_ not cold?"

I gave myself a once-over. Shirt, shorts, barefoot. Fair point.

"It's not that I'm not cold" I answered her, "It's just, whatever the hell those women did to me is so ridiculously painful, at its worst anyway, that it's kind of overwriting it. At least, that's my theory." I scratched my hair, "It doesn't explain my lack of symptoms though."

MIura stayed silent for a bit, then spoke, "Hikio. We need to get off this… island or whatever is." She glanced up at the 3 men, "Have you asked them if they're leaving? Or why they're here in the first place?"

I grimaced, "It hasn't come up, no."

She tilted her head, "Well, bring it up then. What if those maniacs come after us again?"

The thought had crossed my mind too, and caused me no small amount of anxiety. Having said that…

"It's not that simple" I explained, eyeing the men, "Remember, they actually came to _meet_ these guys. _They're_ not locked in a dungeon waiting to get eaten. Who knows what their relationship is?"

She mulled this over for a second, "I thought you said they didn't like them?"

"Be that as it may, it could still be the case that-"

"Woah woah woah, back up back up." Miura interrupted, shaking her head, "What do you mean, _get eaten_?!"

I halted, "Oh. Yeah, from their conversation earlier, I'm pretty sure that's what would have befallen us had we stayed. Thinking back on it now, I guess that sort of explains the room's temperature and location; better to keep us close to the outside so our… so we remain fresh for the longest time possible, to be prepared and consumed at their leisure."

Miura's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. Probably should have worded that a bit differently.

She looked me dead in the eyes and spoke in a low, deliberate tone, "Hikio. Listen to me. You go ask them _right_ _now_. Do whatever you have to do. Say whatever you have to say, just get us on that thing, and the _fuck_ out of here. I couldn't care _less_ who they are. I am _not_ becoming a balanced and nutritious breakfast for cannibals with a fully furnished torture chamber!"

When you put it like that… "Fair enough." I sighed and turned to the men, "Wish me luck."

I waited for a lull in their conversation (in which time by the way, no luck was wished to me), gathered my nerve and switched to English, "Um, excuse me?"

The men's chuckles died down. Now with their attention, I continued, "We'd like to thank you very much for your hospitality. You've quite possibly saved myself and my… companion here."

I hoped they understood me. While I probably had quite the accent, I did know that I didn't talk like most English speaking Japanese. From my couple thousand hours consuming English media, I had learned to pronounce and connect my words pretty naturally. Unfortunately this thorough and unfocused assimilation had had the side effect of giving my voice while speaking the language an inflection that I suspected sounded… odd.

Thankfully it didn't seem to be an issue, "Nonsense" The big one, Malacas dismissed with a flourish, "Don' worry about it."

I nodded. Here came the hard part, "Yes well… the thing is, erm, my companion and I were… to put it-"

He held up his hand to stop me, "Say no more." He shared a look with the other two, then gave me a wide grin, showing off his set of… quite frankly scarily unhealthy teeth, "I reckon, you two're the ones that those blaggards in Greystone had trapped ain't ya?"

I didn't confirm nor deny, but he went on regardless, pulling out something from inside his fur garment, "Y'see lad, I don't know how the fock you got yerself in there, but we made a right bit o' Shannon thanks to you." He exposed what he took out: a small sack of... coins apparently.

My mind whirled in response to this new information, and though I didn't let it show on my face, Malacas seemed to anticipate my growing concern.

"It's not what yer thinkin' lad." he reassured, "Isn't as though we skulk in backstreets lookin' to snatch up dainty lass' to sell. Time's ain't that heard yet eh?" All three had a chuckle, "Nah, we got ourselves an… arrangement with the local isle towns."

Lirin leaned forward, "They give us their undesirables, the dregs. Y'know, the one's who'd just end up at the bott'm of some of some lake or other. We bring 'em 'ere, hand em over to be - haha - _dealt with_."

Hodrick passed Malacas a large pitcher of the drink. The large man forwent his tankard and gulped the entirety of the contents in one lengthy go.

"Pah~!" he breathed, "O'course, we take a little fee, and give the town a cut from it. The blaggards eat, we get paid and the isle's mayor gets a shiny new pisspot. Everyone's happy."

I did my best to appear unfazed, "...Fair enough, I suppose." No, it wasn't. It created incentives for these towns to disregard rehabilitation, as well as sell off the poor in their societies. I was more on edge than ever - these men were effectively remorseless murderers.

Malacas shoved the empty pitcher and tankard into a sack and climbed unsteadily to his feet, "Well. 'Bout time we were off." The other two be also began to stand. Malacas adjusted his hide trousers and gave me a pointed stare, "We're headin' to Peacefield, join in the merriment, spend some o' this coin on fine drink and company. Or all of it." He threw gave a small laugh, before gesturing towards the manavi, "Need a lift?"

Wow. That was easy.

And frankly, a little convenient.

Paranoia, probably. Not that I don't have a good reason to be wary, unfamiliar environment and all, but just as one could be hit by a streak of bad luck (source: do you even have to ask?), surely the inverse should also be expected occasionally? Was it even that suspicious? We did net them some cash… somehow, after all.

I glanced at Miura who, most likely reading the atmosphere was now listening intently (much good that did her) then back at him, "Err, yes. That would be most appreciated, thank you." I stood up, and Miura followed.

* * *

Over the next 10 minutes, we helped pack up the campsite into the large vehicle. The layout was a bit unexpected; you entered it through the left door - well, "door", it was more of just an opening honestly, with, worryingly, nothing to cover it. There was a chair in the front corner of the room - because it really _was_ a room apparently - adjacent to what looked like a largish console. Maybe this was the driving, or flying mechanism? Upon closer inspection, it didn't have any dials or buttons, just two pretty deep holes that I didn't get a chance to look inside of.

In the rear part of the manavi, there were 2 rooms separated by wooden doors - what I suspected was a very small bedroom and an even smaller storage room where we carefully offloaded and arranged the camp supplies. After dumping the last of it, Miura and I walked back to the cockpit area just in time to see Lirin, who was seated at the console, press a finger onto a wall beside him. Half a second later, the opening that lead outside began to seal up, the rocky material almost liquifying and closing in on itself. I heard Miura gasp beside me, and I couldn't blame her. That was… there was really nothing else to call it; that was bona fide, honest to goodness magic.

As far as I could tell anyway.

Various parts of the manavi's interior began to glow, supplementing the illumination coming from its 'windows'. The blond man then proceeded to stick his arms inside the consoles holes, and a loud humming eventually started to echo through the whole ship. Was it a ship? Whatever, not important. More pressingly, the four of us currently not seated had to brace, as the ship suddenly lurched upwards. Miura and I stared out of the glass like portion of the walls at the forest, our view of the scenery jerking along with the manavi's movement. I had expected it, but I still felt a bit of a rush as it happened:

We were taking off.

Moments passed, and the manavi pulled away from the island. We actually began to dip below the landmass, seemingly circling towards the other, much larger one below. Interestingly, as we lowered, I spotted odd discolorations in the rock at various points underneath the island. Blue, purple, yellow, among others. I couldn't actually see what they were at this distance. Probably what's keeping the thing aloft would be my guess.

I heard Miura let out a heavy exhale as she practically collapsed against the wall, still on her feet however. I shared the sentiment; I'd done a good job of suppressing it, but I couldn't help but join in her sigh as a little bit of peace held at bay the gargantuan ball of anxiety that had been building in my chest ever since we got here. Goddamn, I am really glad we didn't get caught. Like, holy shit. I knew I was good at compartmentalizing but I really kept my cool the whole time there didn't I? It's a miracle what chronic pain could contribute to stoicism. No wonder old people reacted to things the way they did.

A few minutes later, Malacas burst through one of the bedroom doors, his massive frame slightly unsteady due to his inebriated state. Behind him was the other one (forgot his name), both laughing as they walked up to me. I raised my eyebrows uneasily.

"Oi" Malacas blurted out through his laughter, "Listen to- listen to this." He sidled up uncomfortable close to me, prompting me to not-so-subtly replace the distance. Didn't seem to notice though, as he continued, "Hodrick 'ere reckons the lass' flowerbed's ne'er been picked. Tosh!"

...what?

"Bets me 10 shannon" he went on, waving his hands in my face, "10! Dunno 'ow drunk I am, but I'm taking those odds!"

My stomach lurched with a sensation of dread. I did _not_ like where this was going. As if sensing my apprehension, Malacas took a step closer to me and instantly, the atmosphere in the room changed. The two other men seemed to grow still, Hodrick folding his arms and silencing his laughter.

The sounds of the ship seemed to quieten as well. Malacas' speech paused and a bead of sweat materialised on my forehead. I truly hoped I was reading the mood wrong.

"So I thought" he intoned, his voice taking on a darker quality, "As I've so graciously offered my hospitality to you folk" he gestured with his eyes at Miura, "she could offer her… hospitality to me."

My heart rate accelerated along with my trepidation; the insinuation was clear. Not just about his objective, but about his potential methods. My mind already began to simultaneously go into overdrive and grind to a halt: these men were murderers. I had naively put that fact to the side in order to accept their aid in escaping the island. Was this his plan the whole time? Why he didn't pry into our background? Why he seemingly didn't want anything in return for their assistance?

I have to do something.

"E-er," I started, the intimidation showing in my speech, "While you seem to have a-a point, of sorts, I really don't imagine she would be too keen on-"

"She's a woman" he cut me off, "Don't matter what she thinks."

Alright, okay then. I felt myself begin to sweat, "S-still, maybe you'd be more interested in what her father thinks then? She's a nobleman's daughter you see, and I can p-promise you that my Lord will reward you lavishly for her safe - and untampered - return."

I wrung my hands unconsciously; would he buy it?

Malacas gave a booming laugh, "Ain't that a kick in the breeches? Look at that hair, that skin! I _thought_ she was a nob. Don't change nothin' though." He leaned even closer and grinned, "I fockin' hate nobles. Still, I'll fuck em'."

I struggled to think of something to reply with.

"Hikio? ...What's going on?"

Japanese.

I turned to Miura, who had instinctively adopted a more guarded posture and expression. I was still at a loss for words, and even more so now as I really didn't want to tell MIura what this conversation concerned.

"They" I still would though, "They want to… to- well-" I took a deep breath, staring at Malacas from the corner of my eye "They, or at least he, wants to… to ra- to have sex with you. I'm nego-"

"What?!" Miura kept her reaction reasonably contained, only widening her eyes and glancing at Malacas. An undercurrent of fear was in that look, which honestly didn't help my mental state. She did do her best to hide it however, keeping a steady gaze on me.

"I'm negotiating." I reassured, "Just... hold on for a minute." and then turned back to Malacas. I let out a large, shuddering exhale. I am frankly terrified right now, "Malacas, you have to understand-"

"Nah, you have to understand" the smile vanished from his face and he began to inch closer to me, slowly backing me into the wall of ship, "Strugglin' wenches ain't me cup 'o tea. So either I'm" he jabbed his thumb at MIura, "gettin' in there, you're" he pressed his hand on a part of the ship I couldn't see and, much faster than previously, the wall behind me opened up to the cold rushing air outside, "going out there."

I froze, feeling the wind caused by the manavi's velocity buffet my body. A small part of my brain wondered why how far down the large island below us was, but most of it was scared shitless.

"I…" Actual words eluded me, and I could only stare at the man's grim visage.

And stare I did. I stared, and I thought, and I panicked internally.

They were going to throw me overboard and I would hurtle through the night and I would die and they would-

"Hikio."

It took me an entire second to wrench myself back to reality. My vision snapped to Miura, and I didn't understand what I was seeing at first. More specifically, I didn't understand the look on her face. The only way I could describe it was… bizarrely neutral. Not quite emotionless, and carefully constructed to seem inoffensive yet uncompromising. It was a face I was very familiar with; it looked just like-

"Hikio." she said, her tone measured, "I'll do it."

…

"Tell them" she said.

"What do you me-"

"I said I'll do it." she cut me off, and the emotion that seeped into her voice seemingly granted a sliver of my faculties back.

"You… can't seriously…" I tried, all too conscious of Malacas' cold gaze and the gaping maw of air current behind me, "This is-!"

"It's just sex." she replied, "Not worth us dying over. Or did you forget what's waiting for us on the other side?"

A part of me knew, logically speaking, she was completely correct. This was, relatively speaking, a small price to pay to escape being eaten alive followed by eternal damnation.

But… but this was...

"Hikio," she continued, "I can already tell this whole thing isn't going to be a walk in the park." She turned to face Malacas, who lips widened lecherously, "but I've been given an opportunity..."

She spared me a single steely glance before walking forwards, in the direction of the rooms.

"... and I'll do whatever I have to capitalize on it."

The opening behind me sealed shut and she and Malacas began to walk away. My thoughts were in such complete disarray that time seemed to slow down, the other mens' cheers slowly began to fade into the background. One coherent thought process managed to reach out from the miasma that was my brain:

I knew what I was supposed to do.

This was the part where I put a firm and decisive stop to this. The part where I used some combination of quick thinking and ingenuity to engineer a solution to this mess. The part where I managed, despite my lack of bulk, to somehow overpower one of the men and take control of the situation. The part where I revealed or discovered some hidden trump card to get Miura out of having to get essentially be raped.

But I didn't have a trump card, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to use it. For the simple reason that I was afraid.

Afraid to try anything. Afraid to even _look_ threatening and most pertinently, afraid to die.

The irony was sickening.

So I just stood there, staring at the floor, transfixed, as my ineptitude as a man - no, as a functioning human, was made manifest. The muted sound of a door opening and closing barely reached my ears. Eventually, I found that I had slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

A minute passed, every second of it spent contemplating the gravity of what I had just done, the enormity of my sin. Trying to keep the image of Miura being… assaulted out of my mind. This was on me. I was the one letting this happen. This whole-

Movement out of the corner of my eye suddenly dragged me out of my thoughts. It was Hodrick; he was in the process of stealthily slipping into the room they were… using. Instant alarm bells went off in my head. I caught the shit-eating grin on his face, and on his belt was… a glint. Metal? I couldn't see as he shut the door quietly behind him.

Adrenaline and fear once more took center stage in my psyche as I considered the implications of this. Being manhandled by one murderer was harrowing enough, but two? At the same time?!

Ghastly stories of people being raped to death crept up within my mind.

I glanced at Lirin, seemingly oblivious as he manned the manavi's controls. My worry was almost enough to overpower my terror. Almost.

Still though, I brought myself to my feet, and shakily followed Hodrick's path to the door, just out of Lirin's line of sight. I stared at the metal handle. The fear of what would happen should I enter reared its menacing head.

Despite everything, I could not bring myself to open the door. I fought a losing battle against my nerves, against my fear, so that I could do what I knew I had to-

A loud shriek from inside cut through my thoughts and, nerves stretched taught as they were, my body jolted. I'm not sure why it happened to be forwards, but I suddenly found myself in a bedroom in which I took a horrifying scene of Miura in her underwear being beset upon by the two men.

They all turned to me and once again, I froze. They didn't wait for me this time however as Malacas, angered by my sudden and explosive entrance let out a loud bellow and began to climb to his feet.

I defrosted and put up my hands defensively, "Now just wait-!"

He ignored those words though and, without warning, threw himself in my direction. In the split second before he reached me, I was able to spy the knife he had drawn from somewhere unknown, but wasn't able to react to it.

Malacas' body crashed against mine.

He held the back of my shirt and seemed to shake me about.

It took me a moment to realize that he was stabbing me. Repeatedly.

It didn't hurt - the only thing I felt in that moment was surprise. Bafflement that this was actually happening.

My vision slowly panned to Hodrick, his face visibly hostile as if he was in a fight. Which was ridiculous, of course. This wasn't a fight, and he wasn't even participating.

I then glanced back to Malacas in front of me, who was still stabbing away, though considerably slower now, I noticed.

Then I looked at Miura, who was doing… something. I couldn't tell, my eyesight began to warp and darken.

Right as the word 'dying' began to surface in my mind, the biggest flare up I'd had so far made itself known. The very instant it began, I knew that this one would dwarf all the others in every regard, that it would send me into a spiral of suffering and anguish that I wouldn't hope to be able to resist.

So I didn't. I gave up and just let it wash over me. I couldn't even think, I just let the familiar darkness in.

Though, it wasn't darkness this time.

* * *

Well then, dear reader, if you've been one of the poor unfortunates to have been following this work since its inception, then you are very aware that I, Syclone903, am a liar.

There's no ends to the excuses I could give, but honestly? A good half of this chapter was completed like, a week after the last one and I just never got round to finishing it. Which is not to say that I forgot about it, oh no, I can honestly tell you that I thought about this thing pretty much every day. Why didn't I just buckle down and finish it?

I'll tell you at a later date.

At any rate, my word means fuck all now, but I'd like to remedy that. Next chapter will come out 2 weeks from now, by the last day of April.

Please don't believe me. I certainly wouldn't. I just figure, if by some miracle I meet the deadline for that, and then the next one, I can have a consistent upload schedule, which is better for everyone.

I've already received my punishment for the delays. Seems that 90, I shit you not, 90% of the fanfics I followed stopped updating around that point, so I'm right here with you guys. Update your damn fics for fucks sake!

On that hypocritical note, it's super late and there are probably typos and inconsistencies that you've no doubt noticed if you're down here. I'll edit this tomorrow.

I need a beta.

Syclone out.


End file.
